By now our readers are no doubt familiar with the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives – the federal subcommittee commissioned to investigate the fetal organ trade and determine whether parties involved have operated outside the bounds of law. The Panel is spearheaded by Tennessee Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn. Blackburn has taken a no-holds-barred approach to uncovering the truth behind the legally very-dubious actions of tissue procurement companies and abortion businesses (read: baby parts buyers and sellers) alike.
Blackburn and her Republican cohorts on the Panel were appointed by then-Speaker of the House, John Boehner, while Democratic members were chosen by overtly ant-Life Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi. Upon inspection, the strategy behind Pelosi’s appointments is self-evident: her appointees are tantamount to those of defense lawyers on behalf of Big Abortion. Among the anti-Life Democrats filling Minority seats on the Panel is Representative Jan Schakowsky from Illinois.
The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway penned a thorough and insightful look into the apparent conflicts of interest between Schakowsky and investigative work on the Panel being done with any semblance of integrity. Hemingway pinpointed two chief problems with Schakowsky’s commission to investigate potential wrongdoing on the part of the abortion industry and fetal tissue traffickers. First, Schakowsky is a major recipient of campaign donations from some of the biggest names in abortion. Hemingway delineates:
According to Open Secrets, Schakowsky has, in fact, received $13,365 from Planned Parenthood. EMILY’S List, a pro-abortion fundraising group that frequently gives out money in many contributions under the reporting threshold, has given Schakowsky $64,553 in reported contributions. The list goes on, including $9,500 from NARAL Pro-Choice America and $1,750 from National Organization for Women.
Second, Schakowsky is close personal friends with Fay Clayton, an invited witness at the most recent Panel hearing on the pricing of fetal tissue. Clayton is a longtime abortion activist who has in the past worked as lead counsel in NOW’s (National Organization of Women) drawn-out legal battle to quash the then-nascent Pro-Life movement by manipulating the federal RICO statute (the case was put to rest by a unanimous Supreme Court decision four years ago, and just last week the 7th Circuit Court ordered NOW to repay Pro-Life defendants tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees accrued during the debacle).
The Schakowsky-Clayton ties run deep. Hemingway reports that Clayton hosted a “swanky fundraising party for Schakowsky’s husband as he headed off to the federal penitentiary” (Schakowsky’s husband is Robert Creamer, a “progressive” activist). In spite of these conflicts, Hemingway acknowledges that Schakowsky could have conducted the job she’s been commissioned to do on the Select Investigative Panel with integrity. However, that doesn’t appear to be Schakowsky’s intention – at least not from what we’ve seen.
Now, the possibility exists that Schakowsky could take her responsibility to investigate the fetal organ trade seriously despite all these conflicts, but the record thus far dramatically suggests the opposite — a pattern of obstruction, rather obvious collusion with those under investigation, and grandstanding.
The conflicts and self-interest on the Select Investigative Panel are remarkably familiar. Here in Texas, we recently witnessed the corruption of Harris County District Attorney, Devon Anderson, in full display as the indictment of undercover citizen journalists was the D.A.’s answer to prima facie evidence that Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast is involved in felonious activity related to the buying, selling, and trafficking of aborted children.
With each passing day, the abortion industry’s true colors bleed deeper into the public eye, and they begin to look more and more like a mafia ring than the medical institution they work so futilely to embody.
